Turning 65: social media & James Brown!

... written for Panbo by Ben Ellison and posted on Nov 7, 2011

I may have become 65 years old yesterday, but no barnacles are growing under this blogger's keyboard! It's still a work in progress, but have you seen the new line of useful function and social media icons that recently appeared at the end of each Panbo entry (also seen above)? The "Print" button will get you a nicely formatted version of the entry with reader comments included, but without extraneous web page stuff. And the "Email" button makes it pie simple to send someone a link plus a bit of the entry with an image and an optional comment from you. The Email button also leads to all sorts of other share possibilities, though you may have to join ShareThis to use some of them. I'm not clear on that and a few other things...

The purpose of the Facebook "Like" button, for instance, is so that you can add a link and bit of a particular entry to your FB wall or business page with a single click, but at the moment it seems to "Like" my disorganized FB page instead. But, hey, I have an excuse; I'm old! I'm also rather dim on what the heck Google Plus is, and I rarely visit the Twitterverse, but I do know that these sort of social media links are a great way for some readers to share things they like with their friends and associates. Even if the term "social media" makes my stomach turn a dite, possibly because I'm old. Not that there's anything wrong with being old. In fact I feel extraordinarily lucky in terms of how all those years are turning out -- like where I live, and who I live with (near and far), and what I do. I love this boat I'm sitting on now too, and that may be the root idea behind this little wallet collage I came up with this morning. Once you have the boat squared away, isn't this a good set of cards to cruise away with?...

And whereas I'm more or less taking the day off to celebrate all of the above, I'll close with a more or less irrelevant image I've been chuckling over since I took it in Memphis, Tennessee, a few weeks ago. I was there for a family event before I went to IBEX (yes, riding a Greyhound bus from Memphis to Louisville via Nashville is now checked off my bucket list), and during one afternoon walk around the city, we came across this strange homemade memorial to musicians passed...

It's a wonderful bit of urban folk art, I think, but the particle board "grave stone" that really got my attention belongs to the great James Brown. And I'm borrowing that faded line that some passerby may have added. I'm 65 and I still feel good.

Comments

Hey Ben,

I'm just a step behind you at 63. I'm looking forward to a followup review on those whiz bang hearing aids you told us about. I know the day is coming but I'm holding out for the first generation of waterproof aids. In the meantime the Garmin VHF 200's outstanding volume and clarity is giving me a reprieve from having to spend thousands on a more permanent fix.

Richard, a year in and I still love the Phonaks, and I wear them all day every day. The only time I turn them off is when a little dullness on the high end is a good thing, like on a jet plane.

But I did have a little trouble during some of my recent travels with one or both aids refusing to turn on. But then again I hadn't had them cleaned in many months and was using off brand batteries. I'm not sure if it was the contact cleaning or the Duracells, but they're fully operational now.

And I have several times stepped into a shower with them on, though I realized it after a minute or two...and no problems.

Happy B-day Ben! I'm just 2 months behind you, and hoping to live to see Medicare. We're living aboard Cayenne this winter in Rabat, Morocco. The Volvo fleet passed offshore of us in the wee hours this morning...wouldn't have known without Panbo.
Keep on Truckin'

Just as you led the charge in maritime blogging I'm sure you'll soon master the social media stuff. I would love to see you on YouTube doing some of these product reviews. The CNN reporters on the front line have a slick setup with a laptop and a good home video camera mounted on a tripod that fits in a backback. Perfect for a one man band. You'd be able to do the morning update from Gizmo fresh from the front line of Camden Harbor.

Keep pushing the technology forward and explaining it to those of us who aren't as young and adventurous as you!

Congratulations on the red,white and blue card. You are missing one card, Ben. You need a MediGap policy. Everyone be aware, one big hospital bill and your 20% gap could cost more than the value of your boat.

Congrats Ben. Ill try to fill you in on whats ahead as we go. Attitude is most important. You are as old as you think you are. Keep on having fun. Keep having adventures. Love somebody. I hope to see more of you around the harbor and out in Penobscot Bay.